Friday, February 6, 2026
Learning Our Shared Past: Reflections on Why History Matters for Understanding Champaign-Urbana and Beyond
Zoom Webinar broadcast live from CITL’s Media Hub Podcast Studio, 12-1pm
Join us for a live, interactive webinar streamed from CITL’s Media Hub Podcast Studio. The School of Social Work, in partnership with the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute (IHSI), recently received a Healing Illinois grant to support learning sessions led by community leaders. Through these sessions, participants explore how policy, place, and power intersect with core social work values of equity, dignity, and social justice. These values transcend disciplines, fostering dialogue that bridges interdisciplinary health sciences, the humanities, and community-based knowledge.
This discussion is moderated by Dr. Kevin Tan, Associate Dean at the School of Social Work and IHSI affiliate, featuring Dr. Barbara Suggs-Mason and Angela Rivers, Co-Chairs of the Champaign County African American Heritage Trail. Together, they will explore themes of racial healing, identity, and place, and discuss how history can be meaningfully integrated into our daily lived experiences, education, and community engagement. In this hour, participants will have opportunities to ask questions, engage in reflection, and consider their individual and collective roles in advancing equity, healing, and community trust across Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, and beyond.
Friday, March 27, 2026
Why Understanding History Matters for Research
Urbana Free Library, 10:00am – 12:00pm
10 – 10:30 a.m. | Exhibit viewing
10:30 – 11 a.m. | Community coffee and chat, Lewis Auditorium
11 a.m. – noon | Panel discussion
- Dr. Kevin Tan (Moderator)
- Dr. Barbara Suggs-Mason and Angela Rivers, Co-Chairs Champaign County African American Heritage Trail
Join us for the final session of the Community-Engaged Research Series, where we will explore why understanding history matters for research and community impact. Attendees are invited to arrive and first view the Journey to Freedom: Illinois’ Underground Railroad exhibit, on display at the Urbana Free Library through March 29, 2026.
Following brief remarks from exhibit partners and stories of Underground Railroad stories from East Central Illinois and beyond, the session will feature a panel discussion exploring how historical awareness should shape our research priorities. Participants will engage in reflective dialogue to identify actionable ways to integrate historical insight into community-engaged research and public scholarship, advancing social justice, strengthening community trust, while ensuring that our collective research agenda honors the lived experiences and historical contexts of our communities.
The Community-Engaged Research Series is organized by the College of Education, Center for Social & Behavioral Science (CSBS), and Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute (IHSI) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, with co-hosts College of Applied Health Sciences, College of Fine and Applied Arts, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, and School of Social Work. This event is partially funded by a Healing Illinois Grant. Healing Illinois is funded by the Illinois Department of Human Services in partnership with Field Foundation of Illinois and United Way Champaign County.